These Sacramento Tacos Are So Good, They Inspired an NBA Player's New Shoes

As a Bay Area Mexican American, I don’t often feel the need to leave our Pacific shoreline in search of good Mexican food. After all, the Bay is home to the righteous Mission burrito — a game-changing culinary gem of generous proportions — as well as a growing “Latinextravagant” food scene.

Sure, there’s always the occasional hater comparing us to L.A. and San Diego — which have larger Mexican populations and are closer to the border. But the Bay boasts a delicious array of regional Mexican foods scattered throughout East Oakland’s parking lots, San Jose’s markets and Richmond’s backyards.

And yet it would be foolish to think we’re the singular purveyor of Northern California’s best Mexican-inspired dishes. As metropolitan as we are, I recently found some of my favorite Chicano-style tacos in Sacramento — and NBA All Star De’Aaron Fox agrees. 

At a taco truck called Banzito’s (formerly Bandito’s), I encountered my first “enchitaco.” It’s an open-faced enchilada that fuses magically with the highly Americanized taco ingredients of ground beef, lettuce, diced tomatoes and sour cream. I haven’t seen anything like it in Bay Area; clearly, there’s something different going on in Sacra.

With other ingredients like bacon bits and pepper jack cheese, Banzito’s Northern Califas tacos are closer to Tex-Mex than the central and northern Mexican classics revered in immigrant enclaves. Instead of striving for sanctimonious purity, chef Adam Saldaña focuses on remixing flavors you’ll likely find in a multi-generational Chicano household’s pantry, not from a taquero’s basket in Guadalajara. And that’s the beauty — and empowering reclamation — of it. 

Saldaña’s tacos might even get scoffed at by actual Mexicans, who often poke fun at Americanized Mexican food. But not all tacos have to be praised by those who only know life in la República Mexicana, where context about what it’s like to grow up in the U.S. with Mexican heritage is often lost in translation. Banzito’s is the translation, and reflects Saldaña’s experiences as a Sacramentan rather than some distant ideal of what a taco should be. 

His approach is clearly working. The tacos are so noticeably appealing to local tastebuds that Sacramento Kings point guard Fox has taken it upon himself to champion Banzito’s in perhaps the most flamboyant way an NBA player can.

On March 7, after Fox dropped 33 points in a pivotal win against the San Antonio Spurs, the phenom debuted his Curry-brand player edition sneakers, dedicated to Banzito’s. After the game, he Tweeted Saldaña to save him a plate of food. He then slid out to the truck, in front of the arena, and scarfed down some carne asada.

In my lifetime of eating tacos and watching the NBA, I’ve never once seen an NBA player endorse an independent Mexican food business. The way Fox has been giving Saldaña his props, in my eyes, is worthy of the Mexican American Hall of Fame.

A quick lurk through Fox’s social pages reveal a longtime affinity for Banzito’s, with raving posts that date back at least a year. Endearingly, the player and the taquero quote tweet and retweet one another about the food, Sacramento and basketball. 

Earlier this season, when reports of Fox’s injury surfaced, Saldaña sent him horchata and tacos. When Fox and the Kings recently won, the player shared an Instagram post to his million followers with the caption, “Beams and Banzitos.”

It’s safe to say that it’s the most heartwarming friendship that has ever publicly blossomed between a homegrown taquero and an NBA star.

It doesn’t hurt that Saldaña is a diehard Kings fan who previously catered privately for the team. Banzito’s designs and slogans align perfectly with the Kings’ fanbase, too: “Light The Tacobeam,” a makeshift logo with a purple bandana-wearing fox. These are the kinds of brand innovations and menu items that Saldaña is dishing out — and Sacramentans, including Fox and his wife, Recee, are eating it up. 

Saldaña just launched his brightly lit teal-and-yellow food truck near downtown’s sparkling Golden 1 Center. And earlier this month, he announced he’ll be expanding with pop-ups at Fowler Ranch Farm Brewery in Lincoln and Sharif & Co. in Roseville.

Outside the Golden 1 Center, you may have to wait in line to get your first bite. Without much nearby competition (besides the more upscale Mexican restaurant Polcano), Saldaña is taking his shot. And he hasn’t missed.

At its core, Banzito’s represents the way children of immigrants reinvent culture, a subversive kind of nourishment that thrives despite naysayers and doubters. Just like lowriders, another symbol of Chicano style and ingenuity, Banzito’s is re-engineering what we know in a slightly familiar, edible context.

It’s precisely that imperfect (or perfect?) hybridity that allows Saldaña’s tortilla-bound inventions to accentuate the tastes of what it’s like to be raised by Mexicans outside of Mexico, this far north from the border. As they say in parts of Mexico, every pueblo has its own kind of salsa. This is Sacramento’s.

Banzito’s taco truck is located in front of Golden 1 Center, on the corner of K and 7th Street, before and after Kings games. They also pop-up near Sharif & Co. (1001 Creekside Ridge Drive Roseville, CA 95678) and at Fowler Ranch Farm Brewery (3111 Lincoln Newcastle Hwy., Lincoln, CA 95648). Check their Instagram page for more hours and locations.